Hanger for pre-tied neckties



May 28, 1968 M. J. FINAN HANGER FOR PRE-TIED NECKTIES Filed May 25, 1964' INVENTOR. Mary/e J F7712 BY A fro/way) United States Patent 3,385,486 HANGER FOR PRE-TIED NECKTIES Meryle J. Finan, 309 N. 14th St, Kansas City, Kans. 66102 Filed May 25, 1964, Ser. No. 369,895 2 Claims. (Cl. 223-87) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hanger for a pre-tied necktie having a hook at the knot thereof, said hanger comprising a vertical shank having at its lower end a horizontal cross bar over which the necktie hook may be engaged, and a backstop adjacent the cross bar whereby the necktie hook can be engaged over said cross bar, or removed therefrom, only by manually tilting said hook out of the position in which it is normally held by the weight of the necktie itself.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in necktie hangers, and has particular reference to a hanger for neckties of the pre-tied type.

Pre-tied neckties of the four-in-hand style have obtained a very wide general acceptance, but have been generally subject to the objectionable feature that they are extremely difiicult to store in that they cannot be hung on the usual necktie rack in any practical manner. Such neckties usually consist of a pre-tied knot from which the end lengths of the tie depend, said knot having built therein a rigid hook adapted to be inserted between the wearers neck and the collar of a shirt, whereby the tie is supported, and oppositely projecting wings adapted to be inserted between the tabs of the shirt collar and the body of the shirt, whereby the tie is maintained in proper position, with respect to the shirt collar. The hook is so positioned, being almost embedded in the knot, and is inherently and necessarily so small, that it cannot be conveniently engaged on the usual necktie rack. Even if the rack is formed With special shape to provide bars or rods capable of reaching the hook disposed in a concavity of the knot, and even if the bar or rod has a small enough diameter to enter the hook, it is still true that said hook must open nearly horizontally when the tie is hung in its normal vertical position that it can be disengaged from such a bar or rod by a very slight horizontal pressure, with the result that neckties so stored are often spilled or dropped from such racks or hangers by accident, causing them to fall to the floor where they become soiled and wrinkled.

Accordingly, the principal object of the present invention is the provision of a hanger for pre-tied neckties which overcomes all of the above enumerated shortcomings and disadvantages, and which permits such pretied neckties to be stored rapidly, simply and efficiently, and which will hold each tie securely against accidental disengagement even if violently and forcefully agitated or shaken.

Generally, this object is accomplished by means of a hanger including a vertical shank having at its lower end a cross bar over which the necktie hook may be engaged, and a backstop adjacent the cross-bar whereby the necktie hook can be engaged over said cross-bar, or removed therefrom, only by manually tilting said hook out of the position in which it is normally held by the weight of the necktie itself. The lower end portion of the hanger, including the cross bar and backstop, is quite small so that no appreciable interference thereof with adjacent parts of the necktie will occur, and the shank is sufficiently long to project above every part of the necktie itself, and is adapted at its upper end to be suspended from a necktie rack, bar or other suitable support.

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Another object is the provision, in a necktie hanger of the character described, of resilient means further insuring secure engagement of the necktie hanger on the cross bar, and for preventing accidental disengagement thereof.

Other objects are efficiency and dependability of operation, and extreme simplicity and economy of construction, the entire hanger being capable of being formed either from a blank cut from a single sheet of spring steel, or from a single length of spring wire.

With these objects in view, as well as other objects which will appear in the course of the specification, reference will be had to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of a pre-tied necktie, showing a hanger embodying the present invention in operative relationship thereto,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line II--H of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged rear elevational view of the hanger only,

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the hanger.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on line V-V of FIG. 3,

FIG. 6 is a lay-out view of the blank from which the hanger shown in FIGS. l-S is formed, and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a slightly modified form of the hanger, constructed of a single length of wire.

Like reference numerals apply to similar parts throughout the several views, and the numeral 2 applies generally to a necktie of the pre-tied type. It consists of a knot portion 4 usually formed of fabric secured over a rigid internal form (not shown) to resemble the knot of a hand-tied necktie, body portions 6 of fabric secured in and depending from knot 4 to resemble the end portions of a hand-tied necktie, and a pair of resilient wings or prongs 8 extending upwardly in divergent relation from the top portion of the knot. Disposed in exposed relation at the top and rear of knot 4 is a hook 10 formed of rigid or semi-rigid material such as plastic, and usually integral with or affixed to the internal form of the knot, although this is not pertinent to the present invention. Said hook, when the tie is suspended from said hook, opens rearwardly and downwardly, more nearly horizontally than vertically, and consists of a straight base arm 12 and a straight terminal arm 14 parallel to lbllt spaced apart from arm 12, said anns being connected at their forward ends by a bight portion 16, which may be either squared as shown, or curved. In use, hook 10 is engaged over the edge of the shirt collar at the front of the wearers neck, and wings 8 are inserted between the tabs of the collar and the body of the shirt, as is common and well understood in the art.

The species of the hanger forming the subject matter of the present invention, and shown in FIGS. 1-6, is formed from a blank of thin sheet spring steel as shown in FIG. 6. It includes a narrow shank portion 18 the upper end portion of which is bent to form a hook 20 by means of which the hanger may conveniently be suspended from a necktie rack or other suitable support. At the end of the shank opposite from hook 20, the sheet metal is widened to form first a front wall 22 and a back wall 24, divided by a transverse fold line 26. Front wall 22 has a U-shaped cut 28 formed therein, the parallel side reaches of said cut extending parallel to the shank and the connecting portion of the out being parallel to and adjacent fold line 26. The metal tab 30 within cut 28 is adapted to be offset rearwardly to form a leaf spring, as will be described. Back wall 24 has a rectangular hole 32 formed therethrough, leaving a narrow portion 34 thereof parallel to fold line 26, parallel side reaches 36 extending parallel to shank 18, and a cross bar 38. In forming the blank of FIG. 6 into the hanger, back wall 24 is folded rearwardly and upwardly along fold line 26 to lie fiat against front wall 22. Side reaches 36 of the rear wall are then folded rearwardly along fold line 40, and downwardly along fold line 42. Cross bar 38 is thus spaced rearwardly from front wall 22 by a distance which it will be understood must be greater than the maximum radial thickness of the bight 16 of necktie hook 10, measured in a direction at right angles to the axis of said bight, but less than the length of hook arm 14. It will be understood also that portion 34 of rear wall 24 forms a backstop bar which is parallel to but spaced below and forwardly of crossbar 38, the vertical spacing therebetween being less than the spacing between hook arms 12 and 14. The metal tab 30 within U-cut 28 of the front wall is offset rearwardly through aperture 32 of the back wall to constitute a leaf spring, the free end of which is disposed just forwardly of crossbar 38.

In use, the necktie hook is engaged in the hanger by directing the free end of hook arm 14 upwardly between cross bar 38 and backstop bar 34, then rearwardly over crossbar 38 until the bight of the hook is engaged over the cross bar as shown in FIG. 2, and the body portions 6 of the tie are allowed to hang normally downwardly. Their weight tends to hold hook 10 in the position shown, wherein it is extremely unlikely to be disengaged by accident. It cannot be swept forwardly off of the cross bar because bight portion 16 thereof is engaged by backstop bar 34 and by leaf spring 30. Actually leaf spring 30 could in most instances be dispensed with, but does serve to hold the bight of the hook firmly forwardly against cross bar 38, and so serves to provide a more secure mounting particularly in cases where the hanger and necktie may be subject to more or les-s violent agitation, as where the ties are carried in a portable suitcase, sample case or the like. The hook can be disengaged from the hanger only by tilting and rotating hook 10 in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2, in a substantial reversal of the inserting process.

FIG. 7 shows a modification of the hanger formed of a single length of resilient wire. It consists of a hook 44 corresponding to hook 20 of FIGS. 1-6, a shank 46 corresponding to shank 18, a rearwardly extending reach 48, a downward reach 50, a horizontal reach 52 corresponding to backstop bar 34, a vertical upwardly extending reach 54, reaches 50, 52 and 54 corresponding to front wall 22, then a forwardly extending reach 56, then a forwardly angled downward reach 58, a horizontal reach 60 corresponding to cross bar 38, a forwardly angled upward reach 62, and a horizontal terminal reach 64. Generally, angled reaches 58 and 62, reach 60, and reaches 56 and 48 correspond to back wall 24 of FIGS. 1-6.

The operation of the FIG. 7 modification is substantially the same as that of the form shown in FIGS. 1-6, the necktie hook 10 engaging over cross bar 60 and being secured therein by backstop 52, except of course that the FIG. 7 species has no equivalent for leaf spring 30 of the species of FIGS. 1-6. The forwardly angled form of reaches 58 and 62 in FIG. 7 provide, in skeleton form, side walls which prevent misdirection of the free end of arm 14 of necktie hook 10 when engaging it over cross bar 60.

While I have shown and described certain specific embodiments of my invention, it will be readily apparent that many minor changes of structure and operation could be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A hanger for use in connection with a pre-tied fourin-hand necktie having a knot portion and a hook joined to said knot portion for engaging over the collar of a shirt, said hook including generally parallel, spaced apart arms connected by a bight portion, and opening generally horizontally when the necktie is suspended in its normal vertical position, said hanger comprising::

(a) a normally vertical elongated shank having means whereby it is adapted to be suspended at its upper end from a suitable support,

(b) a horizontal cross bar having means attaching only the ends thereof to the lower end of and in spaced relation from said shank whereby said necktie hook may be engaged thereover,

(c) a backstop having means attaching it to said shank in generally horizontally and laterally spaced apart relation from said cross bar, and

(d) an elongated leaf spring having one end thereof attached to said shank and having its opposite end disposed in a vertical plane intermediate the vertical planes of said cross bar and said backstop, and being yieldable away from said cross bar.

2. A necktie hanger as recited in claim 1 formed of an elongated blank of sheet metal having the lower end portion thereof doubled on itself, the portion thereof immediately adjacent said fold constituting said backstop, the doubled-over end portion having an aperture formed therein so as to leave longitudinal side reaches and a connecting portion extending between said side reaches at the free end of said doubled over end portion, said longitudinal side reaches being angled outwardly from said shank at a point intermediate said double fold and the free end of said double end portion, and then angled downwardly at a point intermediate said outward angle and the free end of said doubled end portion, whereby said connecting portion forms said cross bar, a portion of said shank opposite and defined by the aperture of the doubled-over end portion thereof being partially severed from said blank and constituting said leaf spring, the free end of said leaf spring being offset through said aperture toward said cross bar.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1940 Gustin 223 X 9/1965 Pulitzer 223-87 

